VIDALIA — Vidalia resident Gretchen Young, just like most everyone else in Concordia Parish, has a lot riding on the parish levees holding up the Mississippi River’s bombardment.

Packing up important documents, moving furniture and even purchasing flood insurance, Young has done everything she can to prepare for the worst, all while never getting to see the nemesis that threatens her livelihood.

“I just want to be able to see what is going on with the river,” Young said. “I don’t think asking to see something with this big of an impact on everyone here would be that big of a request.”

With the riverfront underwater and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Fifth District Levee Board restricting any foot or vehicle traffic on the levees, parish residents are searching for another viewing spot while the only current place to get a view of the water’s effects lies across the river on the bluffs in Natchez.

“Unless you have some strong binoculars, you aren’t seeing anything good from the bluffs,” Young said.

Concordia Parish Police Jury President Melvin Ferrington said until the water on the riverfront recedes and cleanup is complete, the bluffs are the only viable spot to view the high waters.

“There just isn’t anywhere else safe enough for people to view,” he said.

Ferrington said pubic safety is the parish’s No. 1 concern, and that is why no one is allowed to walk on the parish’s levees.

“It is just too dangerous for people to be out walking on,” he said.

USACE project engineer James McRae said besides the threat of drowning, there are many wild animals, including alligators, out around the levees that could pose danger to anyone nearby.

Ferrington said the main problem the Corps is trying to avoid by restricting foot traffic is the traffic interfering with work being done on the levees.

“There are so many people down there working on it,” he said. “If people were just allowed to go walking around, they would get in the way of people working.”

Ferrington said in addition to getting in the workers’ way, people would be subject to injury from the ongoing work.

“There is a lot of heavy equipment and machinery in use,” he said. “It just isn’t safe to have people roaming free.”

Young said she had heard previous reports that foot traffic caused damage to the levees and that is why no one has been allowed on them, but both Ferrington and McRae said that is not the case.

“Foot traffic causes no problem to the levees at all,” McRae said. “There are a lot of safety concerns, but that is not one of them.”

Ferrington said while foot traffic is of no concern, vehicle traffic on the levees can cause some structural damage.

“Driving and sightseeing is something we don’t allow at all,” he said. “When those vehicles start bouncing around on top of those levees, it can put pressure on them and cause some damage, and we don’t want that.”

Ferrington said the bluffs in Natchez are going to have to be the best spot for a view of the river.

Young said she is going to continue to search for a place to view the historic waters while the river slowly crests.

“This is history that may not happen again for hundreds of years,” she said. “People will be talking about the great river crisis of 2011 in the future, and I just want to be able to have memories of something that could change my life forever.”